It was a busy news day. Jesus, the King of the Jews, had been crucified. Hung on a cross between two thieves. At noon, the sun had disappeared from the sky, leaving it black as night. Corpses had been seen walking around and a terrific earthquake had rocked the city!
If newspapers had been printed at the time the headlines might have declared that the end of the world was at hand! Would they have made the connection between the terrifying events and Jesus' death, I wonder?
The carpenter from Galilee. The man who had come teaching and healing. A gentle man who had, just days before, ridden into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey, now crucified by the very same people who had praised Him!
It was too unreal to believe. And yet, it was all too true.
Somewhere, three or four pages in and regulated to a small column would have been another article for those who cared to find it:
Veil Torn In Two From Top to Bottom!
To the Gentile reader of the day, this would have been little more than another account of destruction on an already very strange day. To the Jew, it would have been alarming.
In light of scripture, we know that it symbolized what Jesus' death on the cross had accomplished and it continues to hold eternal significance for all of us to this day.
We first learn of the veil in Exodus when God is giving Moses instructions about how to build and set up the Tabernacle. The veil covered the Ark of the Testimony, separating the holy place from the most holy place; where God's presence dwelt. Only the priest was allowed inside and only once a year on the Day of Atonement. The veil was a physical separation between man and God.
No more! That veil was only a symbol, replaced now by the body of Christ. This Body that took on our sin and suffered in our place, abolishing sin once and for all, made a way for us to come boldly to the throne of God.
Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which He hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, His flesh; (Heb 10:19-20)
Not because of anything we have done but because through Jesus we are inwardly cleansed of guilt and outwardly washed pure. Both Jew and Gentile alike (this is the great mystery Paul talks about in Colossians 1:26!) now have direct access to God through Jesus Christ.
Beloved, this is Good News indeed! So let us make our approach in sincerity of heart and full assurance of faith.
Let us remain firm and unswerving in the confession of our hope, for the Giver of the promise is to be trusted.
Shalom,
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